KPMG offers a broad range of actuarial services across life insurance, non-life insurance, health insurance, and pensions. Whether you require our life, non-life, or health expertise (which includes domestic and international insurance, and captive and reinsurance markets), or our pensions expertise (which includes the management and restructuring of defined benefit schemes and the set-up of new defined contribution schemes), we strive to continually provide clear, unambiguous, and independent advice, cutting through the actuarial complexity.

How KPMG can help

Our dedicated Actuarial practice combines technical knowledge and rigorous processes with wide-ranging commercial and market experience to provide progressive, high quality and flexible advice. Our team works across a wide range of areas, including risk management, regulatory, tax, advisory and accounting lines, providing the full breadth of services to our clients. We are also involved in both professional and industry bodies and take an active role in pursuing regulatory, accounting and tax issues affecting the industry.

We also provide technical insurance training, reinsurance optimisation, quality financial reporting close advice, unit pricing, asset de-risking and asset liability management services.

Actuarial Modelling

Our life and non-life actuaries have extensive actuarial modelling experience across a wide range of off-the-shelf packages. Our services include:

• Peer review of models 
• Model development and support 
• Independently validating stochastic models 
• Actuarial model efficiency reviews 
• Outsourcing of actuarial model development / maintenance 
• Review of actuarial model control environment.
  

Business Strategy Support

Our business strategy support covers a wide range of activities. Recent projects include persistency experience improvement initiatives, independent assessment of de-risking strategies, development of improved asset liability investment strategies, technical and project management support in the tender of annuity business, advice on regulatory capital management and supporting actuarial software initiatives.

Embedded Value (EV) and General Accounting

We provide internal actuarial advice to support the KPMG audit opinion on a range of accounting bases, including Irish GAAP, IFRS, EV and US GAAP. KPMG requires actuarial sign-off on all insurance / reinsurance audit clients as part of its internal risk management arrangements.

We have provided technical advice to a number of insurance and reinsurance companies on technical issues, including treatment of various reinsurance arrangements under IFRS and regulatory bases, and revenue recognition issues due to new product features under IAS18 / IAS39 standards.

Independent Actuarial Review (including Expert / Independent Witness Work)

We provide independent actuarial review and associated support across a broad range of life and non-life areas. Our services include:

• Acting as court-appointed independent actuary in portfolio transfers of insurance business 
• Independent actuarial reviews on reserve adequacy / profitability 
• Peer review support to chief actuary on a range of actuarial matters 
• Advice on reserve / DAC adequacy in relation to transfers of portfolios of business as part of transfer pricing projects.
  

Internal Audit Support

We support our Internal Audit Services practice in providing services to the local insurance sector on a range of internal audit review matters. Our support focuses on actuarial related internal audit themes, including:

• Solvency II readiness 
• Technical review of reserving process 
• Review of pricing process.
  

Mergers & Acquisitions

We are heavily involved in a large number of transaction activities. Our services include:

• Advising a number of life insurance companies being sold, including the preparation of all actuarial reports for the data room 
• Advising shareholders on the sale of insurance companies, including preparation of detailed pre-sale financial due diligence and appraisal value reports 
• Acting for a number of interested buyers on a number of mandates for Irish regulated entities being sold.
  

New Business Applications

As part of the new business application process, we support our regulatory colleagues in advising life companies on their new business application process and advising potential new entrants to the market on their preliminary discussions with the Central Bank of Ireland. We are currently advising a number of existing companies that are intending to expand their presence in Ireland through either licence or class extensions.

Outsourcing / Secondment Support

Our Actuarial team has supported a wide range of companies on an outsourced basis across a wide range of activities, including year-end financial reporting support, actuarial model development support, Solvency II support, data room sale process support and improvement of business planning processes.

Participation in Industry Bodies

Our Actuarial team is actively involved in:

• Society of Actuaries sub-committees 
• KPMG UK weekly knowledge sharing group 
• KPMG International’s initiatives in relation to IFRS and risk-based capital developments under Solvency II 
• Groupe Consultatif Pillar I group 
• Representing the Society of Actuaries’ on the Insurance Accounting sub-committee of the International Actuarial Association.
  

Pension Actuarial Services

KPMG’s Pension Actuarial Services team focuses on pension issues from the perspective of the scheme sponsor – primarily the finance director.

We seek to help companies manage pensions in the context of their specific business needs. Two key components of this are:

• Seeking to understand the business objectives and key metrics, whether that is providing competitive and appropriate benefits, a focus on reducing cost / cash requirements, improving capital ratios or reducing balance sheet volatility. 
• Focussing early analysis at a very high level across the broad range of options and opportunities. This avoids unnecessary work and enables a rapid assessment of which options address the primary business issues and risks.
  

Typically the issues facing our clients vary depending on size or industry but can include:

• Managing benefits to contain the ongoing cost of pension arrangements and reduce the growth of defined benefit pension risk
• Investment strategy, such as considering the benefits and risks of more closely hedging the Minimum Funding Standard or FRS 17 / IAS 19 positions 
• Reaching efficient funding agreements (from the company’s perspective) and understanding the implications of pension risk.

See also: Pension Advisory Services

Solvency II

KPMG’s Solvency II services include:

Pillar I

• Development of actuarial models 
• Independent review of standard formula models 
• Internal model validation support 
• Data / systems / process improvements 
• Resource support for technical and development issues 
• Documentation of actuarial models 
• Outsourcing of actuarial function holder role 
• Advice on Pillar I technical matters
  

Pillar II

• Development of the second line of defence governance role of the actuarial function 
• Advice on design and development of ORSA framework / report 
• Risk management framework design and implementation: 
  • Development and embedding of risk appetite 
  • Risk policy 
  • Risk universe as part of the Corporate Governance Code
• Quality assurance around Pillar II requirements
  

Pillar III

• Gap analysis on quantitative and qualitative data requirements 
• Development of pro-forma reporting templates 
• Advice on design and development of public and private regulatory reporting (SFCR and RSR)
  

Other

• Insights to practical methodologies for data and system challenges 
• Support with programme delivery, including the design, build and delivery of Solvency II 
• Comprehensive board and senior management training 
• Advice on loss absorbing capacity of deferred taxes 
• Reinsurance strategy advice 
• Asset liability management advice
  

Statutory Roles

Appointed Actuary / Approved Actuary and Signing Actuary Services

Senior actuaries in our team act in statutory actuarial roles in Ireland, Isle of Man and Bermuda for life and non-life (re)insurance companies. The roles include:

• Appointed actuary to two Irish regulated life companies 
• Appointed actuary to Isle of Man regulated life company 
• Signing actuary to eight life reinsurance companies covering a diverse range of business across Irish, UK, Other European and US territories 
• Signing actuary for 23 non-life insurance and reinsurance companies writing Irish and offshore risks and covering all lines of business
• Approved actuary to four Bermudan regulated entities 
• Outsourced actuarial function to a number of insurers and reinsurers.